SaraAB87 Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 I am wondering what everyone in the USA is paying for carnival rides if you choose to go to carnivals? In my area which is Western NY (Buffalo) we are paying what I feel are outrageous prices for carnival rides... I want to know if I am wrong to think this is too expensive or if prices are like this all over the nation, which would make it the norm. One company over here was charging $6.25 for a single ride, rides were 5 tickets and tickets were $1.25 each.. This is for something like a scrambler or flying bobs, and not anything out of the ordinary. Most companies here charge $5 per adult ride and at least $3 for kiddie rides. You rarely find an adult ride for $4 or under. Pay one price deals are always at least $20 per lot with a lot consisting of 5-10 rides, sometimes there are only 2-3 adult rides and the rest are kiddie rides. Larger fairs have more rides, but the price stays the same. Larger fairs like the erie county fair charge $40 for pay one price on the midway for an all day one-day ride pass on the weekends, which is more than most theme parks in the area charge for admission even with parking, plus you have to pay admission and parking on top of that ride pass, if you go during the weekdays you still have to pay $25 pre-sale or $30 when you get there for an all day one day ride pass, and again you have to pay admission and parking on top of that. Some companies do not sell single tickets on the midway, they only sell inconvenient bundles... one company here sells tickets $5 for 4 tickets with only bigger options for bundles of tickets, they do not sell single tickets... so if you want to go on a ride that takes 5 tickets you have to pay $10 to get 2 bundles of 4 tickets...and then you are left holding the extras. Yes, we do have events with discount ride tickets, however you have to buy these in bulk and the price is usually $20 or more for a book of discounted tickets valid for one ride each, given the on-midway price it is not a bad deal however there is no way I will be able to use up all these tickets so it becomes a waste for me to buy these discounted tickets. Some places these tickets are not widely advertised and it can be difficult finding a place to buy them. For some events discounted tickets are only available at certain places often not easy for me to get to and only between the hours of 10am-4pm on weekdays for example, exactly when everyone in my area is working and cannot get to the place to get the discounted tickets. I have found out you are also taking a risk when buying these tickets as you have to get them ahead of time.... as weather in my area is unpredictable and we had one event that totally washed out last year leaving everyone holding expensive tickets... luckily they let them use last years tickets for next year's event but I don't expect every event to be that generous. Also you are taking a risk since you don't know what rides will be there... there was an event with discount tickets here and it turned out to have exactly 5 rides at it, only 2 adult rides, and the bungee jump was an upcharge which did not accept the discount tickets. I obviously wouldn't be riding much if this happened again and I bought the tickets..... really glad I didn't buy the tickets for this one. Based on these prices, I have chosen to stop paying them because I think they are totally outrageous.... or am I wrong and is this the norm across the country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 One company over here was charging $6.25 for a single ride, rides were 5 tickets and tickets were $1.25 each.. This is for something like a scrambler or flying bobs, and not anything out of the ordinary. That's pretty normal. US/Canadian carnival industry is built around single providers at most fairs and "pay one price" wristbands are so common that per ride cost has basically skyrocketed to try and pick up larger individual spend "advance sales" in the form of the bands. Lemme use a fair somewhere near you for a comparison - the New York State Fair this year had bands for $30 on weekends. I think their ride list was somewhere around 70 pieces? Cedar Point, as a comparison point, has 68 rides. No matter how you quantify it, that's a lot of rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraAB87 Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 Yeah, Cedar point is clearly in a league by itself and if I lived closer to it I would be making a visit for sure, its just that the on site hotels are a bit out of my price range and I would have to stay a couple nights to really make it worthwhile so that is kind of out of the question for now. I know for many people driving a long distance is not an issue but for me its a large problem. The NY state fair seems to be significantly cheaper than the Erie County Fair and is arguably a larger event, but from what I understand Wade just signed a huge contract there and they probably had specials due to being the new provider, based on this I expect the price to creep up to match the Erie County Fair in a couple years. A local park Martin's Fantasy Island had $18 admission this year if you bought your tickets from one of many local workplaces. That is cheap, and they have free parking, but also this park will be changing ownership next year, it is early but I expect the prices to change significantly next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 We stopped going to carnivals a few years ago when they raised all the height requirements for the kiddy rides, and forced the parents to ride with the kids after being forced to pay to buy a wrist band as well. The wrist bands range on average of $20- $25 each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Our local fair has the weirdest price for tickets. It's 80 cents per ticket, and most rides cost 3-4 tickets. So you end up paying either $2.40 or $3.20 per ride. That's on top of the admission price of $12 adult/$4 child. They sell one day wristbands for $25 that include admission, so that's what everyone buys. If you ride 4 things, you've already hit that price. Wade Shows is the rides operator, and they usually bring about 50 rides, so it's not a bad deal, really. But much like Six Flags tickets, if you're paying gate prices, you're not doing it right. Discount fair tickets are in all the grocery stores, and many employers get special deals. Last year I took my oldest daughter, and by buying the tickets through my work, we paid $5 parking, $6 for me, and $2 for her, and we both had ride wristbands. That was a good day. Edited September 23, 2016 by ytterbiumanalyst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking86 Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Well, I don't live in the US, but it might be interesting to compare prices in different countries as well. I haven't been to a travelling fair in many years, but I got curious so I decided to check. The largest operator in Norway is Lunds Tivoli and they have the ticket prices on their website. Here are the prices in NOK and converted to USD with the current exchange rate. Single ticket* - 47 NOK ($5,78) 7 tickets - 279 NOK ($34,29) 15 tickets+fastpass - 599 NOK ($73,63) *Their KMG Speed and KMG Inversion requires 2 tickets to ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rill'o'beily Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Most of the fairgrounds in Finland have a ticket average of 5€ (5.6$), but most of them have a writsband of about 30€ (33.6$), but compared to static amusement/themeparks in Finland that's almost criminally high, not the ticket price but the wristband since a small fair can be 30€ while Linnanmäki is 37-39€ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Around these parts it'll cost you your soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraAB87 Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 We stopped going to carnivals a few years ago when they raised all the height requirements for the kiddy rides, and forced the parents to ride with the kids after being forced to pay to buy a wrist band as well. The wrist bands range on average of $20- $25 each. Something similar happened here as well, I don't have kids but as far as I know its marked on every ride that parents must have tickets if they wish to ride, nothing about the child's height is mentioned. What happened here and I won't mention specifics but they raised the height requirement of a certain portable coaster to 56 inches or no ride at all when previously it was you could ride with an adult at 42 inches and at 48 inches you were fine to ride alone. Nothing about the ride changed that I can see, same ride, same cars on the ride, same restraints. So I have no idea what caused the drastic change. I know safety is of the utmost concern but changes like this just seem a little arbitrary to the consumer when something like this happens, especially when the ride is the exact same ride in the exact same state as it was the year before. This is an amusement ride site so have you checked the ride manufacturers guidelines for each ride? Carnivals and parks are required to update if the manufacturer updates. Perhaps you have seen the same ride at a park with a lower restriction? If its higher than that in your area then you will know that the fair is just trying to extract more money from parents and kids, a fair has every right unfortunately to raise the restriction but it would have to be higher than what the manufacturer specifies. I have noticed in the last few years that height restrictions seem to be going up, and most kids rides are family rides which require 42 inches or an adult. I am just curious if the fair is raising restrictions on purpose or if its just height restrictions going up across the board. Also thanks to the international folks, I was hoping someone would chime in with prices from overseas just out of curiousity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WOFanatic Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 About $500,000 To ride one? About $3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esvadj Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Trimpers Rides & Amusements I think is one of the best deals running as far as tickets go. An individual ticket is .60 and a sheet of tickets is $20. Average for a kiddie ride is 3 tickets and an adult ride is 6. They have over 40 rides, including 2 walk through fun houses, a coaster, the best bumper cars south of Knobels, and a classic ride through Haunted House. They also offer wristbands that are good for all the rides, in the afternoons, for $26.00. Now here is the real deal. Early Spring, via Facebook, Trimpers will offer half price wristbands to people that have liked their page. So for $13.00 you can get a wristband that is good for 5 or 6 hours of unlimited rides. I will normally buy a few wristbands for my kids to use at various times in the year. Trimpers Prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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